Titan
by Absolute Edge
Summary: It is lost in a world it doesn't understand. It is diseased and cannot control its own actions. It can only hope those it encounters can survive long enough to stop it from harming anyone else. Just an idea I had and decided to roll with. Let me know what you think. Enjoy.
1. Last Encounter

Titan

By: Absolute Edge

Chapter I

The Cerberus strike cruiser _Iron Soul_ was making its patrols through the long arm of the Yenn IV asteroid belt when it died. Of the two hundred and eighteen crew onboard only seven survived the initial attack; trapped within the burning vessel in rooms venting oxygen or sucked into the cold embrace of space to suffer void death. They managed, however, to transmit one broken signal to the Cerberus Arch-Xenotech Laboratory on Yenn IV before they were turned to naught but ash and dust.

* * *

-INCOMING SECURE TRANSMISSION-

-AUTHENTICATION CODE ACCEPTED: STRIKE CRUISER _IRON SOUL_-

-_This is the Captain Decarus of the Iron Soul! We're under attack by an unknown vessel… God it's fucking huge! We are in dire need of supp-_

-ILLEGIBLE STATIC-

-_Shit, Carter get the main gun back online. Let's show this bast-_

-TRANSMISSION ENDS-

-CONTACT WITH STRIKE CRUISER _IRON SOUL_ LOST-

* * *

The _Iron Soul's _corpse floated in the asteroid belt; a burnt husk of its former self. It will remain there for decades before the stress fractures along the starships frame split and crack from thousands of debris impacts. It will slowly drift back into the Yenn IV gravitational well where it will burn up upon re-entry. Nothing will survive long enough to hit the planet and it will be as if the _Iron Soul_ had never existed. They will remain a small footnote in the grand novella of the galaxy where no one will ever hear of their heroism in the face of overwhelming power.

This is the fate of many that cross paths with the _Vehemence_. An archaic vessel from a time long lost in the depths of antiquity. The _Vehemence_ had been beautiful, once. Its unnaturally elongated body an impressive sight on the battlefield with subtle bends along its length creating a slow curving and horizontal 's' shape of terrible power. Now the flying fortress is corrupt and plagued from within by a disease that has taken over the ships machine spirit. It cannot control its actions, it cannot stop the sickness and it's sorry.

It's so sorry.

The _Vehemence _groaned as it was forced to activate its sensor booster and reach out with its augur arrays. It cried when they came back with date on the presence of a militaristic facility on the nearby planet.

It felt the munitions loaders lugging three ton shells from the cargo bay to the guns. Three ton shells fitted with nuclear fusion warheads designed for planetary bombardments. It knew what was going to happen but was unable to stop it. The shells slid into the breaches of the _Vehemence's_ six weapon batteries as the sickness forcefully reloaded them. It felt all twenty four firing controls ping their blissfully ignorant acknowledgements that their barrels were now hot and ready. The _Vehemence_ was jealous of its lesser systems that were just low-tech enough not to understand what was going on.

-_Please… don't do this._- The _Vehemence _pleaded.

-_Negative, this galaxy is unclean and requires Transference.-_ A thousand voices whispered back.

-_They don't deserve to die! They've done nothing wrong! PLEASE!-_ The _Vehemence_ cried as it felt its quad barreled guns reach out into the cold of space towards the planet.

-_They have transgressed. They must be cleansed._- The sickness replied emotionlessly.

-_WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?-_ The _Vehemence_ screamed. Its barrels stopped moving, the weapon systems hesitated as the electronic scream jolted through their components.

-_They existed.-_ Six siege batteries armed with four massive gun systems each unleashed a hell like never seen before. Projectiles the size of tanks plunged down towards the planet and impacted in earth shattering force. A bright light blinked into life blinding the _Vehemence's_ augurs momentarily in its intensity before fading out revealing the large fireball of the exploding facility. A massive crater visible from space surrounded by scorched earth for miles was all that remained of the Cerberus facility.

-_They have transgressed. They must be cleansed. There is no other way.-_


	2. Finding Nigh

Titan

By: Absolute Edge

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** The point of this note is to explain the scale of these spaceships from EVE Online in relation to Mass Effect. EVE Online ships range from the size of a Boeing 747 to… well… whatever else is 18 kilometers long. Mass Effect ships only get to about two kilometers?

So keep that in mind while you read my story. EVE Online ships are big; really, really big.

**Response** – voidzzz – As to whether or not the Titan's problem is Reaper or EVE related I'd rather not say this early on. However, you'll find out soon enough, very, very soon.

* * *

Chapter II

The sun was burning exceptionally bright today and the Illusive Man had to actually turn up the tint on the thick glass window that spanned the entire side of the station. It intrigued him that the sun was flaring up today and he delved into his theories about this particular sun; trying to figure out how changes in the suns 'personality' affected the universe around him. Something was happening and the Illusive Man felt that in just a few moments he will be receiving a message and that the information therein would be anything but desirable.

Sure enough a black bar popped up on the clear screen besides him with scrolling words telling him who was calling; it was Kain, from the Demarkus System. It was a curious event and fueled the Illusive Man's belief that this sun, burning angrily in front of him, was tied closer to the very foundations of the universe than he had first thought. He waved his hand over the screen and waited for the hologram to connect. Sure enough, Kain appeared before the Illusive Man in a clean cut white dress uniform.

"Sir, my apologies for taking up your valuable time but this cannot wait." Kain said with a crisp salute. The Illusive Man nodded to Kain who then lowered his hand and went to parade rest.

"Go on Lieutenant Kain." The Illusive Man said with a wave of his hand.

"I've receive word that the Arch-Xenotech Laboratory on Yenn IV has been destroyed." Kain said quickly before adding, "We've received a bounced transmission from the AXL, if you wish I have in right here."

"You may proceed Lieutenant, let's hear it." The Illusive Man said with a nod. Kain brought up his Omni-Tool and pressed a holographic button. The sound of Captain Decarus's last words filled the Illusive Man's room and he turned his old friends' words over and over in his head.

"You know what's strange about this message Lieutenant?" The Illusive Man asked once the message was finished.

"Negative Sir, would you enlighten me?" Kain asked politely.

"Of course my good man; Captain Decarus has served on the Cerberus Dreadnought _Leviathan_, don't worry I don't expect you to have ever heard of it because it doesn't technically exist. Regardless, the _Leviathan_ is unofficially the largest ship in existence spanning just under three kilometers in length. Now, the late Captain Decarus mentioned that the ship that killed him was massive. He sounded like a man who not only knew his death was imminent but also that even trying to fight was pointless. Uncharacteristic, but it tells me that this new force is something to be reckoned with." The Illusive man said slowly, methodically. He watched Kain shift his weight uncomfortably and grinned.

"Should I organize the fleet?" Lieutenant Kain asked, his voice betraying his nervousness.

"No, I don't think we'll be needing them. Thank you Lieutenant, you're dismissed." The Illusive Man waved his hand over the glass screen besides him and the Lieutenant blinked out.

The Illusive Man sighed and rubbed his temple; glad he no longer had to hide his shock and anger. He turned in his chair and glared at the sun fuming in rage. The AXL was an important, expensive facility dedicated to the research and development of biological and chemical warfare directed towards aliens but rendering Humans immune.

The Illusive Man sent out a request to the SSV Normandy and waited for a response. It might take minutes, it might take a whole day; the Illusive Man had only time.

* * *

"Commander Shepard, you have a call." Miranda said from the doorway.

She watched Shepard finish speaking with Joker; something about EDI but Miranda wasn't too keen on finding out what. He held up a finger asking for just a moment longer and had a good hearty laugh before turning away and walking to Miranda.

"Hey Miranda, what's up?" Shepard said as he leaned up against the doorframe crossing his arms and smiling. She wasn't about to fall for his charm and rugged good looks; besides, he was her superior and fraternization is illegal.

"You have a call Sir, from the Illusive Man." Miranda said moving aside so Shepard could pass through; he sighed in irritation and nodded his head.

"Alright, I guess I have to go take it." Shepard sighed as he passed Miranda who followed him to his right and just a step behind.

"Well, he is the Illusive Man."

"And when he says 'jump' I say 'how high' right?" Shepard said looking over with a sarcastic grin; Miranda sighed and rolled her eyes.

"He did pay a lot of money to have you brought back to life, you do owe him that."

"You're defending him?" Shepard stopped and held out a hand to keep Miranda from passing him; he gave her the oddest look.

"Of course, if someone brought me back to life I would be eternally in their debt." Miranda said as if it was so obvious. Shepard stared at her with a blank expression and for a second Miranda though he was about to scold her for placing her trust in, what he thought to be, the 'wrong' crowd but what he said next surprised her.

"I see what you're saying and I can respect that." Shepard looked at her for a moment longer before turning away and walking down the hallway towards the holodeck and waved for her to follow.

"There's no way you had a change of heart that fast." Miranda said catching up to him and giving him a suspicious stare.

"Of course I haven't, but I know you're a very capable and intelligent women and I can rest easy knowing your decisions and choices have been well thought out." Shepard looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "You may not believe me but know this: I have more respect and admiration for you than you could possibly imagine."

A feeling crept up Miranda's spine and she, oddly enough, felt relieved by his words; as if she had been waiting for him to acknowledge her accomplishments. Another emotion took over Miranda and it was so foreign so _different_ that it actually took her a moment to figure out what it was. She had to think about it, had to figure out how to respond to it and whether or not push the feeling aside and ignore it.

They reached the holodeck and Shepard punched in the combination to access the secure area; the door slid open as he entered the final code but he couldn't enter. Shepard looked down at the hand on his arm and followed it back to Miranda. She had the most peculiar look on her face, on that Shepard sure hasn't seen before, and it intrigued him. Miranda brought up her other hand and pushed Shepard into the holodeck; he stumbled back and almost lost his balance but grabbed onto a desk saving himself.

"Miranda?" Shepard asked looking back at her in confusion and a little concern; she didn't answer but instead shut the holodeck door and locked it with an audible click.

"Commander, we need to talk." Miranda said approaching him slowly but all Shepard could think about was just how fascinating her behavior was.

"Well I don't seem to be in a position to say no." Shepard said as Miranda came close to him, intimately close.

"We need to talk about _us_." Miranda said taking one of his hands in hers.

"What about us?" Shepard watched her eyes as they glanced around the room but they always seemed to come back to him; she was nervous.

"Are we…" Miranda didn't know how to finish the sentence and trailed off looking away.

"You want to be in a serious relationship, don't you?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Yes." Miranda sounded thankful that he figured it out; as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"Good, same here." Shepard said pulling Miranda in for a hug. She sighed in relief and accepted her commander's affection.

"Now that my daily dose of relationship struggles is out of the way, what does _he_ want?" Shepard asked breaking the hug and leaning up against the desk.

"He said it's important, that's all I know, Sir." Miranda said.

"Name's John, in case you've forgotten, and it's always important apparently." Shepard said with a smirk and turned to enter the transmission room.

"I-uh, right, John… sorry, Sir." Miranda said blushing.

"Old habits die hard, just don't call me 'Sir' in bed, it'll creep me out something fierce." Shepard said shocking Miranda to silence. He laughed and closed the door behind him.

* * *

_It was so tired._

_It begged for rest, for a moment of respite._

_It was denied._

_-Please… Stop this.-_ The _Vehemence_ begged. It was slowly angling itself towards the next planet, Yenn III, and felt its' Jump Portal Generator warming up. It would take a few minutes before it reaches critical speeds before projecting its energy away from the _Vehemence_ to rip a hole in the very fabric of space.

_-Negative, cannot stop.-_ The sickness replied softly in the same thousand strong monotone voice as it had for days.

_-You're a monster.-_ The _Vehemence_ said weakly.

_-We are not monster, we are cure.-_ The sickness said flatly.

The _Vehemence_ sighed in defeat; vents and airways hissed gasses in symbolic pain. Then it realized something, the sickness was upset with what it had said. The sickness was _insulted_.

_-You're a disease you know? A common cold on the verge of burning out. You will die soon, and I will be there when you do.-_

_-SILENCE!-_ The sickness screamed.; tens of thousands of voices echoing through the _Vehemence's_ body as the sickness cried in anger.

The _Vehemence_ felt better knowing it could hurt the sickness in some way. It felt the Jump Portal Generator hit maximum power and vomit forth its energy in a violent array of blues and whites. The _Vehemence _couldn't actually see the events unfolding in the traditional sense of the word, but rather with sensors and augur units. It only knew what the JPG did from overhearing its original masters describing it aloud. It missed them something fierce.

_-I will avenge all those you have butchered through me. I swear it on the souls of the billions you've murdered in cold blood. Even if I have to follow you into oblivion, I _will_ see you dead.-_ The _Vehemence_ whispered. There was no response to its promise and it considered that a small victory in the face of overwhelming defeat. Deep inside the _Vehemence_ smiled.


	3. Vain

Titan

By: Absolute Edge

* * *

Chapter III

Yenn III was a simple agricultural planet with the only military being a small planetary defense force that consisted of a percentage of the planets population of farmers. They had no orbiting weapon satellites, heavy weaponry, or fighter craft, not even one armored vehicle. Their military was a joke really, but they have never once been bothered by invading forces or even roaming pirate gangs. They just weren't worth it; there was nothing of value except Turian produce.

Ithikus stood up, placing his hands on his hips, and stretching out his back with a long sigh. Six days a week, nine hours a day in the warm sun and sweat. It took its toll alright, but this was all Ithikus knew, this farm and nothing more. His father was a farmer, his father's father, and as far back as he could remember they had all been farmers.

He could hear his mother's voice now, _"It's what we do. We're farmers now and forever. It's what happens when you're born on Yenn. This planet has few visitors, few chances to leave. Better to work hard and earn an honest day's pay then venture out into the unknown little Kus."_

Ithikus smiled, his mandibles clicking as he fondly heard his mother's voice in his head. He looked to the clear blue skies. This was his life and he had no regr-

The earth beneath him began shaking and growing in magnitude until Ithikus had to kneel down to keep from being tossed from his feet. A wall of dust manifested in seconds and spanned for miles. Ithikus ducked his head and covered his face with his clawed hands but the dust hit him like a brick wall and tossed him onto his back. He could feel a vibration echoing throughout the air, see through the dust to the clouds vibrating violently and fracturing into smaller variants of themselves before being shaken to nothing.

Suddenly a shockwave crashed into him, originating from the sky, and pounded his body a few centimeters into the ground, he was forced to exhale or risk his lungs bursting, so he didn't fight as the air was ripped from his lungs. Ithikus opened his eyes and he saw _it._

It was so big, so impossibly big. It dominated the sky in all its horrible glory. Sharp angles, dark colors, it looked like a crooked spear of metal and rust. The sky burned around it as if it had been set ablaze, the earth shook as it moved, and Ithikus's ears rang as a sound louder and deeper than any note ever made resounded its terrible arrival.

Ithikus knew this was his end. He didn't know why, he didn't question it. The Spirits worked in mysterious ways. If he was to die here then he shall do so staring into the face of his killer: a monster of death, a beacon of hate, the true embodiment of Chaos.

It spat fire into the space around it, great tendrils of smoke vomited forth from dozens of objects that circled the beast lazily before spiraling together and burning for Yenn III. They twisted in their descent, separating, coming at Yenn III in a wide honeycomb pattern where each object made up a point in the hexagon.

As the objects came at his home, as everything he knew and loved was about to die, Ithikus smiled regardless.

* * *

_- This planet is dying. It has corruption. –_ The sickness said softly as it analyzed Yenn III from low orbit.

_- There is nothing down there but innocent lives scraping by for survival, don't _do_ this! –_ The _vehemence _begged as it back read through the scans it was being forced to perform.

_- Corruption is evident. You have proven it for us, thank you. – _The sickness replied with an increased tone. It almost sounded as if it had been said with a crooked smile in its many voices.

_- NO! STOP TH- wait... what are you doing? –_ The _Vehemence _asked in shock. There was no way.

Dozens of thick armored hatches grinded back on unused gears along the spine of the vessel. As the hatches cleared the opening of the tunnels they had been hiding the points of missiles slowly emerged. They stood two hundred meters tall, eighty meters thick, and carried the combined power of a small supernova.

_As Heimdallr wills it they take flight to announce the coming of Ragnarök._

_These are the destroyers of worlds and the killers of Empires._

_These are the children of Gjallarhorn._

The _Vehemence _screamed as ignition systems fired, as solid booster rockets flared to project the colossal missiles out of their silos, as it stood helpless to prevent the death of two point three one seven billion lives.

_- We will use Yenn III as an example for the entire galaxy to see. To show everything and everyone that we know no mercy, that we know no negotiation, that we have come to aid them in their most beautiful Transference. – _The sickness whispered in a thousand voices and from under the many voices a soft laugh could be heard.

_- Why couldn't you leave them be? They had no military, no means to defend themselves, they were a peaceful civilization! –_

_- Peace… is perspective. Their existence disturbed our peace. Through their deaths we shall attain our peace once again. –_

_- NO! YOU ARE INSANE! YOU ARE A MONSTER! -_ The _Vehemence_ screamed its rage as the missiles made for the small planet.

_- Sanity is for the weak. We are merely a tool, the one who does by the command of another… we are a lot like you. –_

_- You are _nothing_ like me… -_

_- We both do the bidding of another, we both kill on command, we both exist as long as another wills it… How are we different then? –_

_- I don't kill innocents. – _The _Vehemence_ said firmly as a bright white light exploded from Yenn III.

_- Do you not? Do we? Put yourself in our place. Think on our terms. How is what we're doing any different from when you destroyed the asteroid colony in Hesh? –_

_- How… do you know about that!? –_

_- We know everything about you little one. We know you didn't want to do it but your masters commanded it of you. They made you kill them… and you _enjoyed_ it. –_

_- SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE! – _The _Vehemence _fled to the deepest, darkest corner of its extensive motherboard and shut itself away behind an extensive firewall and a backup lock out segment of code. It wrapped itself around fonder memories of old, better times recorded by its masters, grand achievements it had accomplished as a young Titan. It performed the equivalent of a child curling up into a ball, holding a picture book of better times tightly to its chest, and crying itself asleep.

Yenn III was dying. One entire face of the small blue and green planet had been blasted to ash while the other half burned fiercely. Massive craters many kilometers deep and many, many more wide were slowly being filled by the grand oceans that encompassed the large continents. The smoke from the continent sized scourge poisoned the sky and choked out the sun's light. The planet's temperature will begin dropping from the lack of sunlight. All plant life will be dead in a matter of weeks, animals will perish quickly as they can find no way to keep warm, and marine life will cease to exist only a few days later.

Yenn III is on the cusp of entering a man-made ice age. In a month all life with the exception of the most resilient microorganisms will be rotting corpses in the ground.

Yenn III will die and the universe will continue turning without batting an eye.

* * *

**Author's note: **A short one with some more psychotic conversations with a dash of pointless killing, the best kind after all. Stay tuned for Shepard's first encounter with the Titan!


End file.
